Of Cherries and Daring
by Allecto
Summary: It all started with a cherry stem test. Suddenly Raven finds herself playing silly games and sharing a personal conversation... with Beast Boy of all people. Could a single night reveal what's taken more than three years to develop? [BBxRae]


**Of Cherries and Daring**

By: Pogirl

"Oh glorious! I have been waiting for you to leave the solitude of your room, friend Raven. Perhaps now you would like to partake in this strange earthen test with me?"

Raven lowered her book and looked from Starfire's smiling face to the bowl of cherries held in her lap; she quirked her brow.

"Starfire, you do know that you're supposed to eat the red fruit of the cherry and not the brown stem part, right?"

"Oh yes, I'm quite aware of how to consume a cherry. I'm merely testing myself now."

"Uh…Testing?" Raven asked. She hesitated at first but finally gave in to her curiosity and joined her friend on the couch. Seemingly delighted at having sparked interest in her usually apathetic teammate, Starfire turned more fully towards Raven and eagerly explained herself,

"Yes, testing. The documentary magazine 'Seventeen' that you claim to not read came in the mail yesterday and in it was an explanation of a cherry stem test that most 'teens' seem to partake in."

Interpreting Raven's blank stare as confusion, Starfire elaborated; rather than doing so verbally, though, she physically demonstrated the "cherry stem test."

"See, you simply place a cherry stem in your mouth, and attempt to tie it into a knot with your tongue,"shesaid around a mouthful of cherry stem. After about a minute of deep concentration on Starfire's part (and an amused sort of fascination on Raven's), Starfire daintily spat out a, now knotted, cherry stem and displayed it to Raven.

Said girl studied the semi-spitty cherry stem between her friend's pointer finger and thumb and felt her nose wrinkle slightly in disgust,

"Well scintillating as this is…" She moved to leave to, but upon seeing a flash of disappointment on Starfire's face she (yet again) hesitated before heaving a resigned sigh. Gods, she was getting soft.

"So all I do is tie a cherry stem in my mouth?"

Starfire instantly brightened and nodded, holding out the bowl of cherries to Raven, "Yes. And the objective is to tie the cherry stem as fast as you can."

"Sounds simple enough," Raven muttered, more to herself than to Starfire. She fished a cherry out of the bowl, popped off the stem and—feeling very foolish—put it in her mouth. Immediately she realized how utterly wrong her last statement was; the concept of tying a cherry stem with just your teeth and tongue sounded simple, but the actual performing of the task was proving to be far from it.

Silence befell the room as Raven worked on the cherry stem with Starfire watching and flashing her an occasional encouraging smile. A minute passed. Then another. Finally after five minutes in which Raven's face twisted into more odds positions then Starfire cared to count, the goth exhaled angrily through her nose and spat out the—still untied—cherry stem onto the empty couch coushion beside her.

"What exactly is this 'Cherry stem test' testing any way?" Raven groused, giving the thoroughly saliva-saturated cherry stem her best death glare.

"It's an indication of well…um…" Starfire trailed off, blushing lightly and sheepishly pushing the pads of her pointer fingers against one another.

"Well?" Raven redirected her glare (though toned it down a little) from the cherry stem to the embarrassed-looking alien.

"Well, it's an indication of how well one is…at, well..um..kissing?"

"What?"

"Yes," she looked down and began playing with the ends of her air, "according to the magazine you claim you don't read, the faster one can tie the cherry stems the better kisser one is. Though, I have suspicion that this 'Seventeen' isn't a very valid source of information; they claim that Robin is one of the top ten hottest super hero celebrities but when I felt him he seemed quite cool."

Raven shrugged, "It doesn't matter. Both the magazine and that test are pointless and mean nothing to me."

"I suppose they wouldn't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" There was an edge to her voice.

"I'm sorry Raven. You have been such a very good friend, and you taught me so much in the ways of the dating, and Robin and I have both been so happy these pass two years that I just wish you to experience that same happiness, but," she turned to Raven and cocked her head to the side, "you don't seem to even want that happiness."

Now it was Raven's turn to avoid Starfire's eyes, "…That sentence was definitely a run-on."

"Do not avoid the subject Raven."

"What? Look, I appreciate your gratitude but at this point in my life there's really no one that interests me like that."

Starfire pinned her with a searching gaze, successfully making Raven feeleven more uncomfortable (though she refused to show it),

"Ever since the Trigon incident you and Beast Boy have become very good friends, yes?"

Raven flinched at the sound of her father's name as well as the implications behind Starfire's seemingly random statememt, "Yes, but what does that have to—"

"It's 11:30."

Raven blinked and glanced at the digital numbers glowing from the clock installed into the subwall in front of the couch.

11: 30 PM.

"Uh, yes it is. But, again, what does that have to—"

"Robin is taking me to the mall of shopping and then breakfast tomorrow morning. I should sleep; I wish you a night of nothing but goodness Raven."

"Um, you too…I guess," she replied, still slightly disoriented by the abrupt subject change.

Raven waited until the echoes ofthe door sliding shut behind Starfire had ceased before turning her attention back to the bowl of cherries resting innocently on the couch cushion beside her. It was just a stupid test. She gave an annoyed sniff, reached over for one of the red fruits and dangled it at eye level for a moment— studying it with narrowed eyes—before her lips pursed into a scowl.

The meaning behind Starfire's comment was not lost on Raven; in fact, it was a possibility, an idea that had been building at the back of her mind for quite some time—a year at the least.

He had been so annoying at first, back when he was still the "shrimpy, grass stain" and she the, "anal retentive, emotionless goth." But things changed, albeit slowly at first. It wasn't until he and Cyborg stumbled into Nevermore that he was a friend, and it wasn't until her run-in with Malchior that he became one of her best friends with the potential for something more. More what though? The scowl on Raven's face lowered into a puzzled frown as she absently began twirling the cherry about by its stem.

The idiotwas always trying to make her smile. She knew it, he knew it; it was a tacit war that they had been waging for years. The incident with her father marked the point where the nature of this war changed. Rather than attempting to get a rise out of each other, the bantering between them served as more of a checks and balances system: whenever she became too dark he was there to drag her out into the light with some corny joke and whenever he became so bright he threatened to blind everyone around him she would dim him down with a sarcastic remark.

When her father came, when her friends learned of her "destiny," she was practically choking on the dark. She could feel it carving tattoos onto her body and she felt that they would always be there, that no one could possibly be bright enough to reach down and pull her out without being consumed by her darkness. But of course he proved her wrong (it was one of the few times she enjoyed being wrong)

And he did it so easily. He didn't lie and say everything was going to be all right, that, in the end, it would all work out somehow. He just said that they would try. And somehow that small phrase—regardless of how foolish and naïve it was—gave her something to cling to.

It wasn't until now (sitting in the dimly lit common room of Titan's tower next to a bowl of mostly stem-less cherries) that she allowed herself to begin acknowledging how much she really needed that stupid optimism.

Raven grimaced at the sickeningly sentimental andoverlydramatic turn of her thoughts.

She needed a distraction.

Her eyes made a quick sweep of the room, flicking from the glowing numbers of the digital clock (11:45 PM) to her book on the coffee table, finally coming to rest on her lap. More specifically on the partially bleeding cherry and the stem she had twisted off while ruminating that lay in her hands.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen," she muttered, reclining back against the arm of the couch and popping the cherry stem into her mouth.

She was going to tie this stupid thing if it took all night. Or, at least, that's what she planned to do before she heard the metallic hiss of the main doors to her rightsliding open. Quickly she spat out the cherry stem and hastily folded her hands in her lap, successfully hiding the soggy stem in a single fist.

"Raven?"

An internal groan. Great. Of all the people she should encounter at the dead of night in the middle of performing something as inane as a "cherry stem test" it had to be him. Why didn't she just put up a big neon sign that said: 'Free Blackmail Material Here.'?

"What are you doing up Beast Boy?"

"I should be asking you that," the changeling replied as he made his way towards the kitchen. At the site of Raven's tense form, though, he sensed mischief to be made and stopped midway to peer over the girl's shoulder, "Dude. Isn't it a bit late for cherries?"

"You're not the only one who indulges in midnight snacks," she drawled, keeping her eyes on her clasped hands, trying not to shiver at the sensation of his face so close to her own.

"Yeah. Guess I'm the only one who gets caught then."

She could see him grinning teasingly at her out of the corner her eye. He then leaned over to help himself to the bowl of cherries at her side, and was about to toss one up and catch it in his mouth (in true Beast Boy show off fashion) but he paused, and for a while he was uncharacteristically silent.

Finally, impatience won out over Raven's sudden bout of timidness, and she craned her neck to look up at him and treat him with a scowl, "Can I help you with something?"

He wasn't listening to her; instead, he was studying the stem-less cherry he held in his hand with an unusually speculative expression on his face. Abruptly he—in a way eerily reminiscent to what she did earlier to Starfire—turned from Raven's face to the bowl of cherries then back to Raven again. She winced at the gloating smile that spread from ear to ear.

"Oh my God," he gave a laugh of disbelief, "You were so totally doing the cherry stem test!"

"Don't be ridiculous," she scoffed, drawing her hood up to hide the pink stain on her cheeks.

He ignored her.

"Oh man, this is great! I mean, I KNEW you were opening up a bit more but the cherry stem test? That's, like, the ultimate typical teenager thing to do to waste time…er…at least, when there's no technology around. So," he suddenly took on a cheesy conspiratorial tone, tugging her hood down so her face was visible,"how good are you? I know for a fact that Cyborg totally kicked Robin's butt and tied his in a minute while it took the Boy Blunder, like, three whole minutes. And Starfire beat BOTH of their butts and tied hers in only half a minute…"

Raven resisted the urge to squirm, opting instead to cross her arms defensively over her chest, "It's just a dumb test."

"Nu-uh! That magazine of Starfire's—which I would never read by the way—said that the cherry test is 99.9 accurate…oh…uh…unless you're um, a super hero..yeah! Because super heroes experience more stress and that..uh….effects tongue coordination…yeah."

Raven, whose shoulders had visibly sagged at the beginning of Beast Boy's explanation, now turned questioningly towards him during the latter part of it; she was treated with a disgustingly sympathetic, border-line pitying look on the green boy's face. She was immediately indignant. Hmph. Who was HE to pity her? Him in his stupid white T-shirt and glow in the dark boxers, with his dumb corny jokes and smelly comic book collection. If any one was to pitied it was him and certainly NOT her.

"Hmph, as if you could do any better," she snapped, eyes glowing white as she prepared to phase up through the ceiling to her room.

"Oh, is that a challenge I hear?" Beast Boy sing-songed, wiggling his ears.

Raven's eyes ceased their glowing and she stifled the urge to smile; after all these years, the little (okay, he was an inch taller than her now) grass stain was finally learning the art of damage control. Maybe if she played along he would forget about her own lack of kissing skills (according to the cherry stem test at least) and focus instead on his own failure; plus, seeing him actually attempt the test guaranteed to be nothing short of entertainment. Or so she thought.

"Yeah."  
"Oh, well, when you put it that way…"

He hopped over the back of couch to join her; plucking a relatively intact cherry from the bowl now between them, he pulled off the stem and, flipping it in the air, caught it in his mouth. Within seconds he spat out a neatly tied cherry stem and presented it to his violet-haired companion with a cocky smirk.

Raven was stunned. "Y-you beat me."

"Yeah well, what can I say? I'm an animal," he drapedan arm around Raven's shoulders—which were still stiff with surprise—and punctuated his statement with a low, feline purr.

She shrugged off his arm, "Super."

"Aw, c'mon Rave, don't be like that. Here, I know! Let's play a game!"

"And what game would you suggest we play at," she glanced at the clock and arched a single brow at him, "12 in the morning that wouldn't wake the others? Unlike you, most people don't find the sounds of Megamonkies 6.0 a source of night time comfort."

"Funny, Rave, very funny. But the game I'm thinking of is a bit more…physical." He moved his right arm forward (his hand resting in between the couch cushions), and, propping his weight upon it, leaned towards her and waggled his eyebrows; an act that made Raven all the more aware of two things: 1) he was tall enough so that, if she leaned forward just a little, her head would fit quite nicely under his chin and 2) oh Azar, when did she actually start thinking that the tip of his fang peaking out from the right corner of his lips as "cute?"

She jerked away from him, covering up her embarrassment with an expectant scowl.

"And what game would that be?" she asked, her direct question a challenge in comparison to Beast Boy's earlier innuendo.

He had the decency to blush before he pulled his hand out from under the couch cushion and held out…

"Cards?"

"Think you can handle my l33t poker skills?"

12: 34 AM

"Beast Boy, please," Raven groaned, massaging the bridge of her nose, "We've played fifteen rounds. You already owe me a tofu-free breakfast, have a full week of my dish duty, have to let Cyborg win all video games you play tomorrow and have to leave me alone for a whole week; stop while you're behind. At this rate, you'll have nothing left to bet."

"What are we supposed to do now, then?" Beast Boy pouted, throwing down his cards (three fives, a king and a jack) and flopping onto his back. They had moved their game from the couch (after Beast Boy capsized the bowl of cherries they had been munching on in a sudden fit of excitement) to the floor at the foot of the massive window looking out on the bay.

"Sleeping seems to be the popular thing to do at this time," she suggested dryly, throwing her own deck of cards (a five, two threes, a queen and an eight) into the pile with his.

'What, you tired?"

"No. You?"

"No."

A beat of silence.

"Wanna play strip poker?"

She gave a derisive snort, tucking her legs under her and resuming her typical lotus position,

"Tempting but no."

"Um…we can always sit in an awkward silence for a few minutes before we both give up thinking and go to bed."

"Thus implying that you ever gave thinking a try in the first place."

"Oh, ha ha, let's all make fun of the stupid one."

"If you insist."

He stuck his tongue out at her then flipped over to rest on his stomach; he began stroking his chin in over exaggerated thought.

"Oh! I know, we can—"

"No, we're not playing spin the bottle."

"…fine."

"…"

"Oh, I got it this time!"

"Let me guess, yet another attempt at satiating your raging hormones?"

"…Okay, so I only got, like, two words in that sentence, but no. Dude, I so know what we can do to stay up even later!"

"Drink some herbal tea?"

"Nope, even better. We can plaaay…" He pushed himself off the floor and struck a gallant pose, "Truth or Dare."

His voice echoed throughout the dark room.

"Wow. We have been reduced to this," she deadpanned.

"What? You don't want to play…Truth or Dare?" Again his words echoed dramatically about the room, like some poor attempt at humor in a cartoon or—even worse—a spoof in a badly written fanfic.

Calmly Raven used her arm to hit his legs out from underneath him, forcing him to collapse back into his earlier sitting position, "Cut it out."

"Ow! Okay, that's it, no more mercy. Raven, truth or dare?" His stare was so intense that his eyes bugged comically outward, and she could practically hear him mentally urging her to pick dare.

Which is why she picked truth, an unusually saucy quirk playing at the corner of her lips.

"You did that on purpose," he said, his eyes narrowing accusingly.

"Um. Yeah?"

"Oh, okay. Um…so…oh, I got it. If you had to be stuck on a deserted island with someone, would you want to be stuck with your worse enemy or your best friend?"

"Is that the best you can come up with?" Raven asked, crossing her arms and looking to the boy sprawled out by her side. He eagerly nodded up at her.

"Wow. Okay. In that case, I'd pick my worse enemy."

"Why?"

"Because I wouldn't feel so guilty eating him when all the food runs out on the island."

He blinked, " Oookay, that wasn't uber disturbing or anything…How do you know all the food is going to run out any way?"

"Because the food always runs out."

"Unless you're on Gilligan's island."

"…Yes Beast Boy…unless you're on Gilligan's island."

"Sweet, now that we've got that settled, my turn! And I definitely pick dare. Go ahead Rave, do your worse." He exclaimed, all the while squinting his eyes closed, and turning away from her as if bracing himself for an actual physical blow.

"Right. Then I guess I dare you," Raven began with as much enthusiasm as she could muster (which wasn't much), "to not speak for a whole five minutes."

A scornful laugh, "Ha! Is that the best you can come up with?" he mimicked her from earlier, wearing a playful, lop-sided grin.

Her own lips pursed at the underlying challenge before curving upwards into an evil smile. All right then. If he wanted her to pull out the big guns, so be it,

"Fine. I dare you to go to Robin's room and to take all of his masks except for the one that Starfire painted hearts and flowers on;I then dare you to have the rest conveniently 'hidden' in your room." She internally laughed at the sight of Beast Boy's horrified face, though her own maintained its usual stoic expression; still, she couldn't resist teasing him just a little, "So. You think you're up to it?"

Throughout Raven's dare BB simply gaped at her, mouth opening and closing wordlessly in a very fish-like manner. When she was done, he seemed to have finally regained his ability to speak, though his words were now tinged with wonder,

"That's…that's genius," he whispered, regarding the dark girl with something akin to admiration in his eyes, "Why didn't I ever think of that? The mask totally represents Robin. Robin is the mask meaning the mask is Robin andRobonis the mask,meaning that this is _the_ perfect Robin-targeting prank…wow."

He stood up and playfully ruffled her hair, "Maybe I'm rubbing off on you more than I thought."

"Mess up my hair again and you won't have a brain to think with."

"Yeah, yeah I gotcha. No more messing withyour pretty little head," he held up his hands in a gesture of mock surrender; a split second later a green gnat hovered where he once stood and—after circling annoyingly about her head a few times—it disappeared into the darkness.

1: 27 AM

Beast Boy entered the main room giggling and holding something behind his back.

"Took you long enough," Raven grumbled.

"Sorry," he apologized, not appearing sorry in the least, "Robin's a really light sleeper. I swear I had to change into a gnat, like, fifteen times! But it was worth it—I can't wait to see his face tomorrow—and lookie here, I even you got a little present," he finished, proudly whipping out from behind his back one of Robin's many famous masks.

She stared at it for a moment, her lips twitching into a wry smile,

"Trying to frame me, are you?"

"What, and share the glory? No, I just thought you might want one since they make you feel so cool and all…"

"A bit too cool. I wouldn't want to ruin my image," she replied.

His ears dropped in mock hurt, "If I didn't know any better, Rave, I would say you're rejecting my present."

"Nothing gets pass you."

"Nope. Ah well, I look much cooler in this baby any way," he said, donning the mask and flopping onto the floor to resume a pose that would put most underwear models to shame.

Raven smirked, moving over so she sat besides him, "You look like a green version of Robin."

"Well, that's a good thing right? I mean, in Starfire's magazine they said that bird boy was, like, one of the hottest celebrity people, sooo, with this thing on I must be at least one of the top twenty hottest, right?" He lay back and looked up at her, the mask on his face preventing her from truly being able to read his expression.

"I prefer you without the mask," she said quietly, using her powers to gently remove the strip of cloth hiding his eyes.

"You do?" He was smiling up at her now and she had to turn away.

"I loathe repetition."

"Oh. Sorry."

Cue awkward silence.

"Uh…so…truth or dare, Raven?"

"Truth."

"Didn't see that one coming."

"Hey, you stick with your corny jokes and leave the sarcasm to me. Kapeesh?"

"Territorial much?"

"Just ask your stupid question."

"Well, since you asked so nicely…"

"Just ask already."

"Okay, okay. So, have you ever um…like, kissed any one?" his voice was casual, but it was apparent by the way he was now staring fixedly out the window that he was embarrassed.

Raven was more so, "I-Isn't that a bit personal?"

"We _are_ playing truth or dare, the ultimate teen sleepover, secret-revealing, blackmail-producing game known to man," he pointed out, still looking out the window at the black waters and grim fog surrounding the tower.

"Good point. …And no, I haven't." Her answer was just as casually put as his question.

"Really? Like, not even with Goth or Malchi—"

"No," she cut him short, "His body consisted of paper. Thus, intimacy was virtually impossible."

"Heh, yeah, that would be kind of…hard," Beast Boy agreed, rolling over so he could gaze up at her expectantly.

"What?"

"Don't you have something to ask me Raven?"

She made a sound that was a cross between a sigh and a moan, "Truth or dare, Beast Boy."

"Wouldn't you like to know."

A glare.

"Dude, okay, dare! Now put away the death glare of doom."

She obliged, replacing the glare with a smug look of satisfaction that is only worn by select few women who are aware that they can influence man by a mere look.

"All right Beast Boy, I dare you to repeat the initiation 'ceremony' and to videotape it for everyone to see."

This time, no look of admiration followed the terrified expression the changeling wore, "Wh-what? You mean—but then I'd have to—and with the tutu? And the rubber chicken and the—the unicycle!" he shuddered and quickly sat up to tug pleadingly at Raven's cloak, "If you have a single merciful bone in your body, you'll find another dare for me to do."

When her expression remained passive—even when he turned into a kitty and nudged her stomach—he knew things were getting desperate (he would not, WOULD NOT wear that tutu) and thus resorted to making the face. For some odd reason, the face only worked on Raven; only she was unable to withstand him staring sadly at her, head to the side, a single fang hooked over the right corner of his upper lip. Unknown to her he had tested the face several times (which is a different fic entirely) and it had never failed.

This time proved to be no different.

Aside from the annoyed sound she made at the back of her throat, she gave in with little resistance, "If you stop being so pathetic I'll simply dare you to go make me a cup of herbal tea, okay?"

He immediately brightened and winked cheekily at her as he got up to perform her dare, "I always knew you were a softie at heart."

"Softie this," she growled in reply, lifting her hand and surrounding Beast Boy in black energy. Magically, the back of his T-shirt was pulled up and over his head while the rest of his body was sent flying over the couch and into the kitchen. Just as she had anticipated he morphed into a hummingbird before he could hit the floor and thoroughly damage what little brain cells he had left (this she thought with an amused smile).

For a few minutes silence reigned in the dim room save for the occasional splash of water or clatter of the teakettle. Then Beast Boy was making his way back up the stairs to join her at the window, bearing a steaming cup of herbal tea.

"Here you go, your royal non-softie highness," he presented the teacup to her with a ridiculous flourish.

"You're starting to learn," she smirked up at him, accepting the drink and taking a sip from it. The sigh she then gave was not one of exasperation or stress—as most of her sighs were prone to be—but one of lethargic contentment that ended with nearly imperceptible relaxing of her shoulders.

Beast Boy watched all this with a strange sort of fascination, barely aware that he was lowering himself so he sat right next to her, sitting inwards so they faced each other, their sides just barely touching.

He was reluctant to bring the girl out of her tea-induced calm, but, of course, did so any way, "Hey Rave, truth or dare?"

"Oh, the decisions," she said, though, even the sarcasm that perpetually laced her words seemed less razor blade sharp and more lazily teasing. His lack of response prompted her to respond with a more direct,

"Truth, of course."

He flashed her an apologetic grin before launching clumsily into his question, "Okay, so, um…I was just wondering, do you like li—er, that is, how do you feel about, um, Cyborg?"

"…what?"

"Well, cuz, y'know, you're always going down to his garage to hang out and work on his baby, and you talk to him a lot, and play chess him with him every day, and I was just wond—"

"Are you asking me whether I _like_ Cyborg? _Cyborg?_"

"Yes?"

"Romantically?"

She saw him wince, "Yes?"

"No."

"Really?"

"What did I say about repetition?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," he mumbled, looking down at his hands.

A sigh escaped her (this one of mingled impatience and amusement) as she picked up the cup of tea she had placed on the floor in her surprise at BB's question. Taking a prepatory sip of the still warm liquid, she heaved yet another sigh (this one was almost affectionate) before explaining herself,

"Listen Beast Boy, Cyborg's just a very good friend. Yes, he's intelligent and is always there to talk to, but we don't 'click' as anything more than friends. Where Robin and I have the team; and Starfire and I have the mall and girl talk (she rolled her eyes at this), Cyborg and I have his baby and chess. And that's all there is to it."

Raven glanced up from her teacup to see if he understood; instead her eyes met with a Beast Boy who seemed uncharacteristically troubled,

"I understand all that," he said, his voice thoughtful, "but what do _we_ have then?"

Her mouth fell open slightly in surprise.

"I-I don't know," she admitted, eyes flicking back down to her lap.

Yet another long, awkward silence.

Surprisingly it was none other than Raven who broke it.

"Truth or dare, Beast Boy," she asked, peering shyly at him above the rim of her cup yet addressing him in the most business-like manner.

"Oh, I wonder," he began tapping his chin pensively, attempting to lighten the mood with his hammy sense of humor.

Her sigh was definitely irritated this time, "I'm starting to run out of ideas here."

"Okay fine," he relented, "Since you had mercy on me, I suppose I can find it in my heart to have mercy on you. I pick truth."

She nodded in understanding and chose her next words carefully, uttering them in the dry, monotone that was characteristic of her,

"What are your feelings concerning Terra?"

A nervous laugh immediately escaped him, "Aw, c'mon Rave, that was like, three years ago."

'Was it really that long ago? It seems so much shorter,' she silently wondered. Aloud she replied,

"I thought your questions ridiculous but I answered all of them."

He studied her for a moment, then gave a harsh, bark-like laugh, "All right. That sounds fair enough (In Raven's opinion, he said this much too mockingly). Terra was—is special. She was cute and immature and fun. We told each other everything and for a while she was more my best friend than even Cyborg was. It was, like, the perfect story you know? Instant attraction, magic almost; we were gonna be inseparable, like Bonnie and Clyde, Corey and Tampanga, Jonie and Chachi."

He punctuated the end of his sudden reminiscing with yet another short laugh and an expression that was both resigned and sad at the same time,

"What is she to me now though? She's the only girl I've had a crush on who was—dumb enough? Smart enough? I dunno—to return (even if it was only for a little while) my feelings."

His smile was an ironic one.

"Thus implying you've had supposedly unrequited crushes before?" The downright inquisitive quality of her voice surprised even Raven herself.

Only moments earlier she had been almost afraid to speak—not for lack of interest but because of the disconcerting shift that had occurred as a result of her earlier, oh-so-calmly given question. Perhaps it was the ungodly hour (1: 57 AM) or the shadow-filled room they resided in, but it seemed to Raven that an odd transition took place; that now Beast Boy was the cynic bitten raw by bitter experiences and she the overly naïve youth poking curiously at scars not yet healed. The change left her feeling unusually nervous; a feeling that was only heightened at the realization that Beast Boy was slowly leaning forward, attempting to look at her pointedly in the eyes,

"No. Only one other."

She instinctively reclined away from him, cursing inwardly when her brain registered her timid reply,

"B-but not any more."

Why the nervous tremor at the beginning? Why the abrupt change in inflection at the end, why turn it into a dubious observation opposed to the statement it was intended to be? She knew where this was going. Hell, the whole night—the cherry stems, the poker, the truth or dare—it had all been building up to this. This? There wasn't supposed to be a this! She was suddenly too excited, too nervous, too _scared_, to experience any of "this" and her last statement was mentally designed to prevent "this" from occurring.

But if his continual movement towards her and the boyish grin curling his lips was any indication, she had utterly failed.

"You know, it's funny, there was no instant attraction, no magic—at first—between me and her," he reflected, completely ignoring her earlier question/statement/observation, which she had been agonizing so much over.

"Her?"

"The other crush."

"Oh."

"Yeah," he continued, as if she had never interrupted, "I kinda brushed her off at first. Not that she wasn't—isn't good looking. She isn't cute, though. I mean, she's not like, Terra punk rocker baby doll cute; she's just like this confusing kind of pretty. Most people would say something from a movie, like 'mysterious,' but I think she's just this big 'ole contradiction of pretty. (Raven was so distracted by his slow, but steady inching towards her that she failed to seize this opportunity to tease hisphrasing). She has this body and grace that's almost like a dancer, but when she's angry she can move faster, and hit harder than any fighter, like, she can be fierce like fire but when you look at her you think of snow. One minute she's so blank you think she can't feel, but the next you see a flash—a really, really quick one—of emotion, but that emotion is so…so intense, that it stays with you longer than a regular smile would. Sometimes I can't decide whether I want to chuck something at her, or whether I want to—she's just amazing. "

"Why are you telling me this?" she whispered; the changeling's body was slanted slightly over hers, his face inches away from her own.

Her reply was a sheepish smile and a shrug, followed by his voice, deeper now and heavy with an emotion she was too afraid to identify,

"Truth or Dare."

He looked her square in the eye.

And in a flash of insight, she understood.

It wasn't a question, it was a challenge.

I dare you to go outside your comfort zone. I dare you to do something you _want_ to do, instead of what you _should_ do. I dare you to dive right into the emotional nitty gritty, to do something you would never do, to choose to do this—_this_—even if I've given you a way out, a chance to run away.

I dare you to make yourself vulnerable to me.

Her gaze slowly rose to meet with his,

"Dare."

His nervous grin smoothed out into a soft half smile and he bent down, their faces even closer now,

"Are you sure?" She felt his words softly brush against the corner of her lips and her cheek.

"Yes." Again their eyes locked, this time hers flashing with their own challenge.

A small nod and he was leaning closer; and now his hand—large and warm—was cupping her cheek, and now her eyes were falling closed…

He breathed her name before his lips gently—baby skin, feather down, moth wings gently—brushed against her own. An electric tingle, and then he was pulling away.

Her eyes fluttered open and she was disappointed to see his face was a good foot away from hers, watching her—gauging her reaction maybe?

Idiot. Nowwas hardlythe time to suddenly develop a sense of caution.

Her hands blindly reached for his T-shirt and pulled him forward with a sharp tug. Caught off guard, he made a small sound of surprise before his mouth came crashing down on her own.

She smiled. He tasted like cherries.

When they both—reluctantly—pulled away for air, Beast Boy immediately slung his arm about Raven's shoulders and pulled her close to him, tucking her under his chin as if he had a right to. She rolled her eyes, but let him without comment; he was wearing a dazed grin that was incredibly endearing and even she was willing to admit that she was feeling more than a bit giddy.

She had just about finished stifling the urge to let loose a high-pitched, excited, girly squeal when Beast Boy's voice broke through her less than deep reverie,

"Hey Rave, you know that cherry stem test?"

She tensed in his arms, remembering how pathetically she had performed said test. Was she really that bad of a kisser that he had to bring it up?

"Yes. What about it?"

He chuckled into her hair, "Total bullshit."

She pushed herself out of his arms and smothered a smile (bordering on a grin) before turning to face him, "Glad to hear that. I'm going to bed."

"Well, in that case," he too stood up, donning his most innocent of smiles, "can I get a good night kiss?"

"I think we've had enough of that for one night, don't you?" She smirked coyly at him (it was supposed to be a teasing, sarcastic smirk, but something—everything—had changed and it came out, yet again, totally different) and sauntered towards the door; the Happy within her giggled like mad at Beast Boy's loud,

"No! We SO have not had enough of THAT for one night!We can never have enough of THAT!"

"Good night Beast Boy."

"Yeah, fine. 'Night Rave."

She willed the doors of the Titan's main room to shut behind her and slumped back against them, hugging her arms and biting her lip to prevent the mother of all grins from spreading across her face.

Maybe cherries weren't so bad after all.

* * *

Titan's tower was always a little crazy; chaos was bound to break out when you toss five teenagers(all of whom have super powers and personalities from all ends of the spectrum) into a tower unsupervised. 

Cyborg knew this much.

What he didn't know was why on earth would Robin wear a mask with flowers and hearts and smiley faces painted on it? Better yet, why would he go out in public with it?

When he had confronted fearless leader with these questions, though, his only response was a suspicious glare before his giggling girlfriend dragged the masked boy away. Maybe Starfire put him up to it?

The doors leading to the main room slid open and Cyborg was met with a barrage of loud music and the aroma of cooking food.

Maybe Beast Boy would know.

"Hey BB, do you know why Robin's wearing this really girly mask out to breakfast with Star…" he trailed off, his single human eye widening in surprise whilst his crimson mechanical eye ran a quick scan to ensure that the scene before him was indeed genuine.

"Beast Boy, you do know that Bisquick has no tofu in it, right? …And that the stack of pancakes right there are made from REAL eggs, and REAL milk, right?" He asked all of this slowly, using small words so that even a sleep-deprived, or even drugged Beast Boy would be able to understand him.

"Uh, yeah? Duh, I made them. I think I know what I put in them," the pancake-bearing changeling replied, sweeping pass Cyborg towards the table where Raven already sat, quietly reading a book.

To Cyborg's astonishment, the plate stacked with steaming pancakes was placed almost ceremoniously in front of Raven, who actually looked up from her book to give Beast Boy a small smile.

"Okay, WHAT is going on here! Why is Robin wearing a girly rainbow mask? Whyare YOU," he swung around and pointed a metal finger at Beast Boy, "making Raven breakfast? Why do you both look exhausted? Why—why are you garnishing her pancakes with cherry stems! You know what, just…no. I don't want to know. I'm going to run a virus-scan, and then I'm going to shoot some hoops, and when I get back here things better be normal," he practically bellowed, storming noisily out of the room.

Raven blinked.

"Well, he doesn't seem to suspect anything."

"Cha, told you Cy's clueless. You gonna eat your baby chicken graveyard pancakes or what?"

"After you take those ridiculous cherry stems off the top of them."

"I kinda like them," he grinned, stealing a stem so he could tie it into a knot in his mouth. He held it out to her with a wink, "Not bad huh?"

"Eh, that was okay. I'm sure you can do better."

"I guess I'll just have to practice then," he smiled, taking a seat next to her.

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help flushing at his suggestion. Time to steer the conversation to less blush-worthy waters…

"How did you know pancakes are my preferred breakfast food?"

He shrugged, beginning to flick the cherry stems off the top of her pancakes, "Lucky guess? Heh, actually they were the easiest ones to make. But you know," he quickly changed the subject, "tofu used to be my favorite food."

Raven glanced up from her pancakes to give Beast Boy a dry look, "I would never have guessed."

She was ignored.

"Now, though, cherries don't seem all that bad, do they?"

Their eyes met and private smiles were exchanged.

"No. In fact, cherries taste wonderful."

* * *

_A/N: Here's my first attempt at a one-shot. Rather pathetic, pointless fluff. An attempt to give a glimpse of how an older Raven would perceive an older Beast Boy and vice versa. Keep in mind that I have yet to watch any of The End (though I have avague idea about due to some conveniently unmarked spoilers grumble grumble).Any way, I hope you semi-enjoyed my ficand, if you're feeling gracious, leave a review._

_Song of the fic: Cherry Lips by Garbage._

_Standard disclaimers apply. If you don't approve the couple or just hate my fic please don't flame, I'll only load it into my flamethrower and launch it back at you._


End file.
